Page 77 of Inviting Trouble
“Hold me tight.”
He did. She felt herself relaxing, her mind clearing, her heart resuming a steady beat.
She’d nearly dozed off when he spoke again.
“Listen, I’m heading out to LA tonight.”
She turned in his arms and stared at him, wide-awake now. “What?”
“Ty offered to help me find work. I haven’t had any interest in my résumé at the airlines. They’re not hiring right now.”
“You just got here and now you’re leaving?” It felt like a betrayal. First he got her nice and vulnerable with all his tenderness; then he pulled the rug out from under her.
“I need to work. I need to be worthy of you.”
“You already are!”
“No, I’m not, but I want to try.”
She jerked away. He grabbed her and she twisted out of his hold. “I can’t believe you,” she said, hating how her voice sounded all choked.
She got out of bed and dressed in quick jerky movements.
“Mad, come on. Give me a chance to make something of myself.”
“I don’t know where you get your screwed-up ideas about who deserves what or whatever—”
“You’re not making any sense. I want the best for you.”
She shoved her feet in her boots and grabbed her messenger bag. “Enjoy LA.”
“Would you wait? You’re my ride.”
She ground her teeth. “Fine.”
She pulled out her cell phone to text Hailey about her shitty life, pointedly ignoring his naked body slowly covering up. Either way, naked or covered, he was irresistibly sexy and it annoyed her that she was still drawn to him when he was pissing her off so badly, abandoning her in her time of need.
She had a text from her dad. Family meeting tonight re: mom.
Great! Perfect! The fucking cherry on top!
That woman didnotdeserve the title of mom. Josh had told her the story of how their mom left the day after Christmas so she wouldn’t ruin their holiday. Mad didn’t remember any of it. She’d only just turned one. Josh and Jake had been eight, so they probably took it the worst. Ty, Alex, and Logan were six, five, and four respectively. She couldn’t help but think that her being born three years after the last kid had been the last straw.
She paced back and forth, waiting for Park, who’d slipped into the bathroom. She stilled. You know what? Fine. She’d be at this stupid family meeting only because it was her house and she refused to hide out forever. It gave the woman too much power over her. She sent off a bunch of texts to her brothers, who replied predictably with variations of WTF. See? It wasn’t just her that thought the woman was evil and her dad was an idiot to let her back in his life.
She drove back home, quietly seething about her life and everything happening in it out of her control.
“I’m coming back,” Park said from the passenger seat. “It’s just for a few days so I can meet Ty’s people and see if it’s a good fit. He got me a first-class ticket.”
“How long have you known?”
“He gave it to me on New Year’s Day just before he left. I know my timing sucks, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to take him up on it until now. I need to do this for us.”
“This is not for us, it’s for you.”
“I need a good job for our future,” he insisted. “To give you everything you deserve.”
She clamped her mouth shut. She knew he thought he was doing the right thing. Long experience told her that when Park got an idea in his head there was just no changing it. Too bad it sucked balls. Just like her life.
